Zero Waste: a method to use existing resources and have more and more energy

This young researcher has studied the development of a simple and cost-effective process solution for the purification of natural gas.

How to use low quality gas reserves

Category: Young Researcher of the Year

The increasing global natural gas demand together with the availability of a significant portion of remaining natural gas reserves with high CO2 and/or H2S contents compels industries to find profitable new solutions for their purification and commercialization, since traditional processes result too much energy-intensive in these cases. In this context, the work “Purification of Natural Gas by Means of a New Low Temperature Distillation Process” by Stefano Langé has contributed to validate and develop an innovative cryogenic distillation process able to perform this task in a simple and cost-effective way, avoiding the freezing of CO2 during process operation, which poses a non-negligible issue. The process results to be more competitive than other purification technologies, allowing significant energy savings. The process is easy to be integrated with other units of the natural gas production chain. The proposed solution allows to reduce costs related to CO2 capture and transportation and it can be applied also to the upgrading of biogas to biomethane and its liquefaction.

Eni Award

Launched in 2007 to recognise the best studies on efficiency, sustainability and environmental protection, the annual Eni Award is an international prize for applied research in the field of energy. Every year the competition involves many of the most important scientific institutions in the world as well as Eni's own in-house laboratories. The 2017 edition marks the 10th anniversary of the Eni Award, with important innovations regarding the competition's subject areas and the establishment of a new category. Called Debut in Research: Young Talents from Africa, this will be reserved for graduates of African universities.

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